1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a vehicle that includes an exterior member that, when viewed from outside the vehicle, looks united or integrated with an adjacent window panel and also relates to the exterior member.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vehicle whose front door includes a front center garnish (exterior member) adjacent to a front window panel and whose rear door includes a rear center garnish (exterior member) adjacent to a rear window panel is described in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-67701, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Generally, such a garnish is formed from a material that does not transmit light, such as a spun-dyed black resin member. Therefore, as for the vehicle illustrated in the foregoing patent application publication, since the front center garnish and the rear center garnish do not transmit light, the center pillars, the sliders of the window panels, and the like are less visible from outside the vehicle, so that design characteristics of the vehicle can be increased.
Generally, the surface of a window panel is smoother than the surface of a garnish, so that if the transmission of light coming from inside through the window panel is low, the window panel reflects an outside scene like a mirror. On the other hand, the surface of the garnish is rougher than the surface of the window panel, and diffusely reflects light, so that continuity of the outside scene reflected in the window panel cannot be maintained and therefore a sense of unity cannot be obtained. Improvement in conjunction with the foregoing problem could be made by mirror-finishing the surface of a garnish to a smooth surface that is comparable to the surface of the window panel. However, despite this improvement, it is still difficult to obtain a sense of unity because the spun-dyed resin garnish and the transparent window panel are completely different in hue. Thus, in order to obtain a sense of unity between the window panel and the garnish, there still is a room for improvement.
A conceivable method for obtaining a sense of unity between a window panel and a garnish is, for example, a method in which the hue of the surface of a garnish is made closer to the hue of a window panel by providing a mirror-finished light transmissive layer made of a transparent resin or the like on a vehicle outer-side surface of the garnish and printing (painting) the rear surface of the garnish in black to screen a structural body from view, which is an original purpose of the garnish.
However, in this structure, when the garnish is viewed from an angle close to a parallel to the surface of the garnish, light that travels from the vehicle inner side to the vehicle outer side is totally reflected at a boundary between the light transmissive layer of the garnish and air outside the vehicle. As a result, the base material of the garnish is not visible behind the light transmissive layer but the surface of the garnish appears black, so that the perceivable hue is not the hue of the light transmissive layer but the hue of the blinder. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain a sense of unity between the garnish and the window panel. As a structure that solves the foregoing problem, it is conceivable to separate the light transmissive layer and the blinder from each other by a distance equal to the distance between the window panel or the like and a cabin interior component or material (e.g., a seat, a pillar garnish, etc.) that is visible through the window panel. However, this solution is likely to result in a reduced cabin space due to an excessively great thickness of the garnish.